1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of installation pins. More specifically, the present invention relates to pins to aid in the assembly and disassembly of various components.
2. Description of Related Art
Various firearms comprise certain components that are held together by one or more pins being releasably secured within apertures of the various components. One such firearm is the AR-15.
The AR-15 is based on the AR-10, which was designed by Eugene Stoner, Robert Fremont, and L. James Sullivan of the Fairchild ArmaLite corporation in 1957. Today, there are numerous variants of the AR-15 that are manufactured by a number of companies. The AR-15 and its various related derivative platforms are used by civilians, law enforcement personnel, and military forces around the world.
One of the reasons for the AR-15's widespread popularity and usage is its modularity. The AR-15 can initially be broken down into two main components, an upper receiver and a lower receiver. The upper receiver includes two lugs, each of which includes an aperture formed therethrough. The lower receiver includes cutouts for receiving the lugs of the upper receiver and appropriate apertures to be aligned with the upper receiver lug apertures.
When the upper receiver and the lower receiver are appropriately aligned, a pivot pin is slidably secured within the aligned apertures proximate the front of the lower receiver and a take-down pin is slidably secured within the aligned apertures proximate the rear of the lower receiver to secure the upper receiver to the lower receiver. Once initially installed within the appropriate apertures in the lower receiver, the pivot pin and the take-down pin each slide between a locked and an unlocked position, but remain attached or coupled to the lower receiver via interaction of a spring biased detent pin and a primary channel and primary recesses formed in the pivot pin and the take-down pin.
Because the upper and lower receivers are secured with slidably movable pins, the upper receiver can optionally be pivoted on the lower receiver or removed from the lower receiver. This allows a user to access various components of the firearm more easily for cleaning and lubrication. Additionally, alternate upper receivers can be used with a single lower receiver or vice versa.
Any discussion of devices, documents, acts, materials, devices, articles, or the like, which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.